I feel blessed that I got to spend some time in the past week with almost all of my (and Jeff’s) family members. And while gifts took a backseat to time spent catching up with loved ones I haven’t seen in many months (or two years, in a few cases), I of course appreciate presents. A few of my favorite Christmas (and graduation) presents:

A Snowball! This had been hanging out on my Amazon wish list for ages, so I decided to ask for it for Christmas this year. I want to start recording my own podcasts, and this little beauty will provide much better sound quality than my computer’s built-in microphone.

A tagine! I’ve wanted one for years, but was always wavering about whether I should actually buy one for myself, so this was a most welcome graduation gift.

Cookbooks! I know, I know, like I need any more cookbooks. That doesn’t stop me from wanting. I was on the verge of buying Alice Water’s The Art of Simple Food II for myself (I have the first volume), so receiving it as a gift made it extra special. I’d been casually eyeing this Rachel Ray cookbook, because I like the idea of make-ahead cooking, and there are many, many recipes in it I look forward to trying.

The tagine and couscous cookbook was a gift along with my tagine, and I’m super excited about that, because I’ve been wanting to do more Moroccan cooking. I’ve also been wanting to do more Indian cooking and Asian cooking and, heck, more cooking in general. As it turns out, I’m going to have a LOT more time to spend in the kitchen, and, no, not just because I’ve graduated. I’ll talk more about these very recent developments in Monday’s post.